US Steel's 4Q loss widens on charges, shipments

United States Steel Corp. said Monday that it lost $122 million, or 84 cents per share. That compared with a loss of $50 million, or 35 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue dropped 5 percent, to $4.27 billion.

The company said that excluding items such as restructuring and tax benefit it would have earned adjusted profit of 27 cents per share.

Analysts, who usually exclude items, expected a loss of 25 cents per share on revenue of $4.36 billion, according to FactSet.

Overall, steel shipments fell 6 percent. A 12 percent decline in flat-rolled steel wiped out gains in the company's European segment and in tubular products, both of which are smaller businesses than rolled steel.

Average prices for rolled steel increased 4 percent from a year earlier, but they fell for other products.

The Pittsburgh-based company said it expects first-quarter results in the flat-rolled segment to improve on higher average prices and shipments and reduced maintenance costs. It said the European segment would report similar results to the fourth quarter, while the tubular segment was expected to decline on lower prices because of high imports and growing U.S. supply.

The company took after-tax restructuring and other charges of $302 million, which it said were mostly related to the shutdown of iron- and steel-making facilities at the Hamilton Works plant in Canada. Those items were partly offset by a tax-related benefit of $142 million.

The results were released long after the market closed. In extended trading, the company's shares slipped 30 cents, or 1 percent, to $25.15.

Company officials planned to hold a conference call with analysts on Tuesday.

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